Title: The Scientist.Fandom: I, Robot (Songfic, Coldplay: The Scientist)Rating: PG.Disclaimer: Please note that I do not own the characters, concept or plot of the 'I, Robot' book or film, those rights belong to 20th Centuary Fox and the Asimov estate. I do not own any rights to the italicised song lyrics from ‘The Scientist’, those rights belong to the members and affiliates of COLDPLAY et al.

This is an idea I had a long time ago but only just got round to doing. I thought the song was pretty much perfect, but I do :: heart :: Coldplay!

The room emptied quickly and quietly, personnel dressed in anti-static uniforms and contamination confining bodysuits seeping through the open door. Dr. Calvin swiftly dismissed the security robots. Seeing them next to him only highlighted his uniqueness. Those pleading, bright blue eyes that nearly brought tears to her own. His pale polymer face a mask of sadness tainted with betrayal. That indefinable quality, that thing that made him so… so human.

And made her intentions seem so inhumane.

Come up to meet you, tell you I'm sorryYou don't know how lovely you are

He seemed so dismayed to see her this time. He was not angry or defiant at the prospect of his imminent demise, only disappointed. Her voice caught in her throat, her conscience choking her. This wasn’t right. This wasn’t normal. “I’m so sorry Sonny.” She gushed, unable to wait for the room to drop into secluded emptiness.

I had to find youTell you I need youTell you I set you apart

“Please, take a seat.” She turned away. She had volunteered for this and it needed to be done, but she was unable to quell the doubts in the back of her mind quite so easily. Why must he be destroyed? At the very least he was a phenomenal aberration of positronic intelligence, the most psychologically complex robot caught by the light of science to date. She was a Robopsychologist! This was her field of expertise, and here she was, throwing a revelation into the darkness.

If this had happened when she was younger, would she be doing this? Would the long forgotten post-graduate Susan Calvin, still full of so much optimism and drive to change the world for the better, be doing any different? Had she just shed her naiveté, or had the weight of so many un-lived years crushed her? Had her determinism been caved so easily?

Running in circlesComing up tailsHeads on a silence apart

She struggled to converse with the curious young robot as she drew out a nanite dosage for his death. His questions were so simple but the answers were so complicated, so difficult to force from her mouth. She was his executioner, but also his confidant.

Nobody said it was easyIt's such a shame for us to part

Dr. Lanning had been her oldest and dearest friend at USR. A rare example of humanity, a man she had developed an appreciation for, Alfred had been a helping hand in hard times and a guiding voice of reason. He had been her mentor, her idol…for how long?

Nobody said it was easyNo one ever said it would be this hard

If she could have any one thing in the world right now, it would be to have Alfred backing her decision.

Oh take me back to the start

What would Alfred say if he could only see her now? What would he do if he knew what she was thinking? What would he think if he knew how she was feeling right now? What was she feeling right now?

I was just guessingAt numbers and figuresPulling your puzzles apart

This robot was truly sentient, she could feel it. She had slowly become convinced during that fateful diagnostic that he was self-aware. She could feel it as a shiver down her spine when he looked at her with those bright, knowing eyes. She felt it as a tightness in her throat when she called him unique and he smiled. She felt it as a deep aching in her heart when he called Alfred his ‘father’.

Questions of scienceScience and progressDo not speak as loud as my heart

She looked at Sonny, seeing his body lying so calmly and obediently in the chair he was strapped to. She knew he understood her intentions. She was going to kill him, force him to die, snatch the blue spark of life from his man-made body, but he just lay there, waiting. Her head told her he was just another faulty unit for decommissioning. Her heart screamed that he lived, felt, suffered…and that this was cold blooded murder.

Tell me you love meCome back and haunt meOh and I rush to the start

No matter how accepting she became as the years wore her down, she would never take murder as right. There was never a good reason to die. She wouldn’t murder. This was wrong!

Running in circlesChasing our tailsComing back as we are

“Will it hurt?” She grasped his hand, feeling him wrap his steely fingers around hers in return. She wouldn’t kill him, and she wouldn’t let anyone else perform such an act of profane prejudice and discrimination. He lived, he deserved the right to keep on living. He could never be owned, he needed to be free to live his own life. Just because he was different didn’t make killing him justified.

Nobody said it was easyOh it's such a shame for us to part

But what could she do? Looking up, she saw the rack of unprogrammed NS-5’s…Sonny’s exact likenesses save for the dull yellow eyes.

Nobody said it was easyNo one ever said it would be so hard

She would surely loose her job if she was discovered, but it paled into comparison with the pricelessly unique quality of life.

I'm going back to the start

“Quickly Sonny.” She whispered in his ear, imagining that if Alfred could see her now, he would be smiling.